Surgery Options | Benefits

Laparoscopic weight loss surgery

All the procedures below can be performed laparoscopically. This means that the surgery is performed through tiny keyhole incisions via a high definition video camera system. This allows much faster recovery, improved pain control and less postoperative complications following surgery.

The Adjustable Gastric Banding system is the least invasive of all weight loss surgeries. The system includes an adjustable silicon elastomer band that is surgically placed around the stomach. The band induces weight loss by restricting food intake; when eating less, the body draws from its own fat to get the energy it needs.

Approved by the FDA in 2001, adjustable gastric banding is the newest and safest surgical treatment for morbid obesity in the United States. It's also the least invasive and the only adjustable surgical treatment available at this moment.

Since there is no cutting, stapling, or stomach rerouting, it is considered the least traumatic of all weight loss surgeries. This is possible by using laparoscopy to install the band, which offers clear advantages like reduced pain and faster recovery.

The is the only adjustable weight loss surgery; in fact, band adjustment is a regular part of follow up for this procedure and is done without the need of surgery. The amount of food a patient is able to take in can be adjusted by inflating or deflating the band. The band is adjusted as needed depending on your weight loss progress or other reasons like pregnancy or illness.

If for any reason the band needs to be removed, it can be done laparoscopically.

Based on your preference we are happy to implant either the Lap-BandTM System or the RealizeTM Band.

Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass

The Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass is the most commonly performed weight loss surgery procedure in the United States at this time. The laparoscopic Roux-Y Gastric Bypass was introduced in 1993 and since then has become the gold standard procedure.

During surgery, a surgical stapling device is used to divide the upper stomach and create a tiny stomach "pouch" at the upper end. This pouch is shaped to be about the size of your thumb, and will hold 30 ml or less. This means that 2-3 tiny bites of food is all a patient can hold, and this restriction on the amount of food eaten is the main way that the Gastric Bypass promotes weight loss.

Food leaves this tiny stomach pouch into a segment of small intestine (the Roux limb), which is brought up from the mid-abdomen and is surgically attached to the stomach pouch. This small intestine cannot handle concentrated calories. If the patient consumes foods that contains sugar or fat this segment of intestine reacts by creating a temporary illness called dumping syndrome. For best weight loss patients should stay away from sugar and other carbohydrates - the thought of dumping syndrome seems to help change habits away from these types of food.

Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy

The sleeve gastrectomy has recently been recognized as a fully efficient weight loss procedure, but it has been utilized as the first stage of a complex two stage operation, the duodenal switch.

During sleeve gastrectomy the stomach is longitudinally stapled and divided and the result will be a narrow tube, which significantly limits food intake and controls hunger. Since no re-routing of the small intestine takes place, malabsorption is not a problem. The operation is faster and safer than a gastric bypass and can be used as stage procedure in individuals who represent very high operative risk.

Five year weight loss results are almost as good as what we experience with the gastric bypass and resolution of comorbid conditions is also very effective.